US President Donald Trump last month reportedly warned his close ally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if Israel does not curb its ties with China, its security relationship with the United States could suffer.
In response to this message and previous US stern warnings against Israeli-Chinese cooperation, Netanyahu sent National Security Council head Meir Ben-Shabbat to Washington on Monday to meet with his US counterpart John Bolton to discuss the issue.
Sources in Tel Aviv reported that Ben-Shabbat conveyed a message informing the US administration that the PM is about to approve a new mechanism to monitor Chinese investments in Israel.
Ben-Shabbat will present a series of measures taken by Netanyahu, such as meetings of the Security Cabinet and postponing any decisions until reaching an understanding with Washington on the matter.
The demand was made on March 26, after Trump recognized Golan Heights as part of Israeli territory.
Despite the "festive atmosphere", the meeting was negative concerning the issue of the Chinese investment.
This was expected, especially since US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo had warned Netanyahu during his visit to Tel Aviv, prior to his visit to the White House, that US-Israeli relations would be harmed especially in the field of security and intelligence, if Israel did not defy its growing relationship with China.
Two officials familiar with the matter told Channel 13’s political analyst Barak Ravid, that Trump was direct with Netanyahu telling him that: “If you don't limit the Chinese penetration into Israel, security cooperation with the US will be harmed.”
The fact that Trump himself raised the issue with Netanyahu indicates the White House may be growing impatient, according to Ravid’s report.
Ravid said that Trump informed Netanyahu that he was surprised at how China was allowed to establish many infrastructure projects in Israel, such as the new port of Haifa. In addition, Chinese telecommunication companies won the tenders to build cellular networks in Israel, namely Huawei and ZTE.
Despite that, Trump did not give Netanyahu an ultimatum, rather asked to be informed of the situation and clearly indicated that security cooperation with US could be damaged if ties with China were not reduced.
In related news, Haaretz newspaper revealed that US researchers advised the administration to help Israel establish a mechanism that monitors Chinese technology and investment, adding that Washington should increase its role in monitoring Chinese investment to ensure it wouldn’t harm security interests.
Experts at Rand Institute warned that the damage of China's investment in Israeli infrastructure would not be limited to Israel, but could affect the United States. The report concluded that Israeli-Chinese relation, which is being consolidated, will lead to a conflict of interests between Israel and the United States.
